A subjective documentary that explores the numerous theories about the hidden meanings within Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining. The film may be over 30 years old but it continues to inspire debat...
Room 237 frustratingly unlocks the iconic hotel door and opens up to theories of sheer lunacy. Subjectivity. Everyone has an opinion. After all, film is art. One viewer may see symbolism behind a certain colour choice or camera shot that the director had meticulously incorporated. Others may find a thematic representation from a particular line of dialogue or character expression. The beauty of art, is that the piece can be perceived from a multitude of angles. No one is right or wrong. That’s exactly what makes film criticism, a semi-professional hobby that has moulded my adoration for the art form, incredibly captivating. Me disliking a particular feature, outlining all the aspects that failed to resonate, does not mean that everyone else should. An important reminder that film criticism is, once again, subjective.
Having said that, Ascher’s “documentary” is not about critiquing Kubrick’s now legendary adaptation of King’s supernatural novel ‘The Shining’. It’s not even an academic analysis. First and foremost, it’s a montage of theories raised by overzealous fanatics deluding themselves into finding purposeful elements within the film to supply their own conspiring fantasies. Obsessive post-modern theorists (assumed to be professors of academic film studies), sitting in their dark dungeons that they call bedrooms, speaking into functional USB microphones and allowing us to listen to their overwrought fallacies. Only one theory, which was the cultural assimilation of Native Americans, was coherently conveyed with an ounce of intelligence. All remaining theories had no analytical approaches to them, other than searching for tenuous links to their own personal fixations. There was no persuasion, just hilarious assertions that supplied frustration more than entertainment.
One theorist claimed that Kubrick produced the hoaxed footage of NASA’s moon landing and left incredibly subtle hints within ‘The Shining’ to apparently announce that he did in fact direct such an iconic moment in history. Front projection, Danny’s Apollo 11 knitted jumper, the numbers “237” referring to the mean distance of the Earth to the Moon (which is actually approximately rounded up to “239,000”...), the carpet pattern representing the launching pad and Jack portraying Kubrick’s sense of isolation for maintaining such a massive secret. Sure. Fine. Whatever.
Another theorist claimed that the obvious poster illustrating a skier, was in fact a Minotaur. A Minotaur? Are you kidding me!? With the hedge maze representing Theseus’ journey to slay the beast. Fantastic! But what does it symbolise? It’s great that this individual has deluded themselves into thinking that a poster about skiing is actually a mythical creature, yet why? These theories aren’t persuading me of anything, because they fail to communicate their purpose if Kubrick did in fact include them in the film. There’s no coherence. Oh, wait, I’ve got one! Multiplying the numbers on the door equates to “42” right? Which is the answer to everything according to Douglas Adams. Therefore, according to my calculations, Kubrick is God. That’s the level of fanaticism being portrayed here. Don’t even start with the theory on sexual connotations!
Many believe this documentary to be a tribute. A tribute to the love of film, the way we think as post-modern society and psychological insight into how obsession works. It’s none of those. It’s just a montage of theories found on YouTube, culminated into one badly comprised documentary and presenting ideas that just aren’t there. At all! In fact, this feature supplied more continuity errors with ‘The Shining’ than it did praising it. So now, these fundamental issues will be engraved in my mind forever, tarnishing its overall quality. Not only was this sub-standard documentary terribly constructed, it also devalued the excellence of the film it set out to worship. Great job! Thanks for nothing...
